


The Night Before

by buzzbuzz34



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Apocalypse, Blindness, Crying, Eye Trauma, F/F, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Police, Police Brutality, Swearing, We talk about Daisy but nobody dies in this fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-18
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-27 10:47:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30121584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buzzbuzz34/pseuds/buzzbuzz34
Summary: Everyone has a few things left to say before the end.Georgie and Melanie think on the time they had, Basira promises to do better, and Jon and Martin acknowledge that what they've had together is incredible, even if none of it lasts.Spoilers for Episode 199!
Relationships: Basira Hussain & Alice "Daisy" Tonner, Georgie Barker/Melanie King, Martin Blackwood/Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist
Kudos: 22





	The Night Before

“Georgie?”

“Mm?”

“I… I guess I just wanted to say thank you.”

“What do you mean?”

Melanie let out a sigh. She sat next to Georgie, where they leaned against each other, hands clasped tight, and the silence bore down on them in anticipation of what they were soon to do.

“Thank you for _everything_ , honestly,” Melanie explained. “For going with me to therapy. For taking care of me after the whole blindness thing. For staying so strong during all of this. For being _you_ , and for being with me.”

“You don’t have to thank me for any of that. Being with you isn’t always the easiest thing, but I wouldn’t trade it,” she replied, a smile audible in her tone. She shifted to face Melanie, though still holding her hands.

Melanie chuckled. “Yeah, I can imagine. I never thought I was good enough for you.”

“What!?”

“I still don’t, most of the time,” she confessed. “God, you’re smart and brave and funny and so incredibly caring, and… Part of me was always expecting I’d wear out my welcome. It’s not exactly the most normal thing for your new girlfriend to say she’s going to cut her eyes out, but you opened your home to me, and you always looked after me. And then all _this_ happened.” She gestured around her to the hellscape that raged on above the tunnels. “We haven’t really had the most normal of relationships. Even if it _was_ normal, I’m not the easiest person to be around, I know that.”

Georgie relinquished her grip on one of Melanie’s hands so that she could cup her cheek. Melanie leaned into her touch; her skin was always so warm, so soft, and it felt like safety when Georgie held her.

After a moment, Georgie quietly added, “I always thought you were too good for _me_.”

“No!”

They both laughed, and Georgie continued, “You are _such_ a badass. And I know I’m not the easiest person to be around either-”

“It always felt easy to me,” Melanie breathed.

“I know I can be overbearing sometimes, especially when I can’t gauge how dangerous something is based on fear,” she said, though she smiled at Melanie’s comment. “I just want you to be safe, in this world, in the old world, in whatever world comes next. I love you, Melanie.”

“I love you too. So, so much.”

“And whatever happens next, I’m grateful for the time I got to spend with you.”

Melanie fell forward into Georgie’s arms, and they hugged each other tight as they cried, thinking on both the good memories and the very real possibility that they would not survive the coming day. They held fast to their love and to a hope that, after tomorrow, they would still be together.

***

The solitude of Basira’s room was staggering. Sure, she’d been wandering around Fear domains on her own for an unknowable length of time, but the loneliness felt more tangible this time. It felt like any other night before the world went to shit, where she was left wondering if she’d done the right thing, and if she would do the same tomorrow.

She pulled a polaroid from her pocket. She had no idea how it managed to survive the elements and the muck, but somehow it remained mostly intact. Daisy found the camera in the office and insisted on taking a picture, and Basira could never really say no to Daisy – it was always easier to play along when times were good, when they were messing around. But Basira never really put up a fight when Daisy played judge, jury, and executioner in the field either.

Daisy could have blamed the Hunt for her actions, but she didn’t. Maybe she knew that it wasn’t just some eldritch fear god that possessed her to perform vicious cruelty behind the safety of a badge.

Basira had no such excuse. She went along with Daisy’s actions and blindly followed her own prejudiced misconceptions, and there was no supernatural reason for it. It was all her.

So many times, Basira had overlooked the facts in favor of an easy conclusion to a case. She ignored when Daisy used pain to force out a confession, or just for the sake of pain itself. And Basira played along, following her preconceived notions and prejudices. After a while, she didn’t think of it as towing the line; it was just who she was, and the people they hurt – well, they deserved it.

But now, as she thought on the implications of their actions in the coming day, there were no facts. Only guesses and hopes that they wouldn’t be damning countless more realities, that they wouldn’t be looking for an easy conclusion, that she wouldn’t be hurting more individuals who never, _ever_ deserved it.

Would there be more like Daisy when the Hunt invaded other worlds? More who had their initial rage transformed into a beastlike hunger and need for violence? More who would try to overcome that change, to do better, to _be_ better, only to be consumed once again and lost entirely?

Basira tucked the polaroid photo back in her pocket. She was trying to do better, to make up for the evil she had put into the world. And sending the fears away was their best option, the only _true_ option. All she could do now was ensure that she didn’t wander back down old paths when they set their world right again. 

If she could help stop an infestation of literal fear gods, then that was the very least she could do.

She owed Daisy that much.

***

Jon had his head on Martin’s thigh while Martin played with his hair. They sat in silence, neither one able to sleep or get the slightest bit of rest as their minds raced. 

Martin tried to break the quiet. “Do you think that, after this-”

“Martin, I…”

“Sorry.”

“No, it’s… I don’t really want to think about it.” Jon sat up so that he could face Martin. “I don’t want to think about what happens to the other worlds, I don’t want to feel the fear and worry and terror, I don’t want _any_ of that. For right now, I think I just want you.”

Tears welled up in his eyes again. Martin reached out and pulled Jon to his side so that he could hold him tight as he cried.

“I’m sorry,” Jon breathed after the tears faded somewhat, but he still clung to Martin, and Martin had no desire to let go.

“Don’t be. It’s alright, I’ve got you.” He brushed the lingering tears from Jon’s cheeks and offered a soft smile. “I was just going to ask if you thought Daisy’s safehouse would still be intact. I could really go for looking at some good cows.”

Jon chuckled and pressed his forehead against Martin’s chest. “I don’t know. I suppose we can find out. And the trip up there will probably take far less time than the trip coming down did, even if we still have to walk the whole way.”

“I hope the cows are still there…” Martin pondered, then shook his head. “I don’t want to know. I have a feeling they’re _not_ , but… I can hope, right?”

“Sure.”

After another quiet moment, it was Jon’s turn to pose a question. “Do you think we’re going to be okay after this?”

“What do you mean? I think ‘okay’ might be a grand oversimplification given what we’re about to do.”

“Right, what I meant was… you and me. Before, you talked about how it was the horror and the trauma that brought us together, and in a mundane setting we were distant and never got on. What if, when the world changes again, when the traumas don’t continue… What if you and I don’t work anymore?”

“Jon…”

“It’s entirely possible that our only bond is through fear and the desire to not face it alone.”

“Do you really think that?”

“No,” Jon admitted. “I think there’s a lot that holds us together.”

“Then there’s your answer.” Martin smiled. “I don’t think it’s just our traumas that keep us together. I think they played a very large role in _bringing_ us together, but that’s different. If what we had in those few days when we were in Scotland, before everything happened, is _any_ indication of what a normal life with you would be like, then I definitely think we’ll still work.

“And besides,” he continued, “even if we don’t, even if we fall apart and we go our separate ways, that doesn’t change what we have now. It doesn’t take away all the goodness we managed to carve out for ourselves when the entire world and fucking fear gods tried so hard to keep us suffering.”

Jon hesitated for a long moment, then sat up to be at Martin’s level. “You’re right. Whatever happens, we have each other now. I’ve not been big on hope in all of this, but… I hope that, if we get the chance, we can go back to that bliss we found before.”

“Me too. It was a simple sort of life, but I think it suited us.”

Jon let out a faint chuckle. “It did. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

They leaned in for a quick kiss, then pressed their foreheads together and breathed each other in.

“Thank you for staying with me,” Jon whispered.

“To be fair, I don’t think you can really get rid of me at this point.”

They both giggled, but Jon added, “You know what I mean.”

“Yeah, yeah. And likewise. We’re kind of a package deal at this point.”

“I suppose you’re right. Well, if I had to be stuck with anyone during the apocalypse, I’m very glad I got put with you,” Jon teased, grinning for the first time in ages.

“No matter what happens,” Martin said, “what we are, what we’ve had… it matters. And no Fear god or spider tape can take that away from us.”

Jon pressed another kiss to Martin’s lips, and then pulled him into an embrace.

“No. No, they can’t.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed! What do you mean there's only one episode left????????
> 
> Anyway, if you want to find more of my writing, check out kellanswritingblog.tumblr.com, or head over to my personal, celsidebottom.tumblr.com


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